As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
